Restrictions are needed but full US-China tech decoupling isn’t wise, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says
- ‘If we are too broad in our policies we can lose the benefits that come from having globally integrated technology systems,’ she tells US lawmakers
- Yellen also says she hopes China will join in G7 plan for minimum global corporate tax rate
The United States needs to curb China’s harmful acquisitions and restrict American investment in some Chinese firms to protect its national security, but a complete severing of technological ties would be worrisome, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers on Wednesday.
“China is our most serious competitor and it poses challenges to our security and our democratic values,” said Yellen, who testified before the Senate Finance Committee.
“We’re looking at the full range of tools that we have to push back to redress practices that harm us [and our] national security and our broader economic interests,” she said.
For example, she said, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a Treasury-led inter-agency body, has helped rein in Chinese acquisitions that would have allowed access to advanced American technology.
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But she said she “would worry somewhat about complete technological decoupling,” noting that many US allies in Europe, for example, would be reluctant to completely cut off their business activities in China.